SD teachers union lays groundwork for concessions to save jobs

“At this point, it’s not going to get any better. We are going to have to give stuff up for our kids, “ said Fargason, who has taught in the district for nine years.

Lisa Schenck, who started teaching in 1989, opposes concessions because she distrusts the district that she said has cried wolf too many times.

“Right now, I would say no. I feel like the district will do what it takes to get us to give in,” said Schenk, a teacher at Twain High School. “ But I’m keeping an open mind and will consider the budget analysis.”

Cindy Marten, principal at Central Elementary School, is pushing her faculty to participate in the pending union survey.

“I don’t care how you stand on this,” Marten told her staff, which would be cut in half after layoffs. “Use your voice as a teacher to actively participate in your future. If public education matters enough in this city, then we have to make this work.”

Under the teachers’ contract with the district approved in 2010, teachers agreed to forgo raises and cut their pay 2.5 percent for two years via furloughs to help San Diego Unified cope with the state’s relentless fiscal crisis. In exchange, the district agreed to boost teacher pay three times in the 2012-13 school year — 2 percent July 1, 2 percent Jan. 1 and 3 percent June 30, 2013 — in addition to ending furloughs to raise pay another 2.5 percent. But the same board that approved the contract says times have remained tough for California schools. And the only way to pay for raises is by cutting the payroll.